Football listless in loss to Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. -- The halftime show by the Holy Cross marching band featured dangerous knife juggling and fiery baton tossing. Unlike the band, however, the Penn football team posed no danger and possessed no fire today on Fitton Field, as the Crusaders stormed all over the listless Quakers, 34-17. Holy Cross streaked to its first touchdown just 64 seconds into the game, as Crusaders quarterback Brian Hall scrambled 30 yards into the end zone to culminate an 80 yard, four-play drive. And things just got worse from there, as Holy Cross was able to convert almost every time it had possession, taking a 27-3 lead into the half. Unlike last Saturday, when Penn spotted Dartmouth an early lead, and answered immediately and frequently, the Quakers were never able to challenge the home team. Penn put together two long drives in the first half, each reaching inside the 10-yard-line of the Crusaders. But the Red and Blue could only come away with a 23 yard Jason Feinberg field goal to show for it. Gavin Hoffman was pulled midway through the third quarter after throwing his third interception of the game, against no touchdowns. While the junior quarterback was able to complete over half of his passes, Hoffman was clearly out of sync with his receiving corps. Rob Milanese led Penn with eight receptions, including an eight-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. The sequence that quite possibly broke the Quakers' back came over the final 2:02 of the first half, when the Crusaders scored two touchdowns to turn a 13-3 contest into a 27-3 laugher. With 0:01 remaining in the first half, Crusaders junior wideout David Thompson hauled in a spectacular five-yard pass in the corner of the end zone -- one of five passes for 112 yards that the speedster pulled down. Behind backup quarterback Mike Mitchell, Penn found the end zone two times in the final quarter-and-a-half of play, making the final score somewhat respectable. Junior running back Kris Ryan scored on a one-yard run with 5:05 left in the third quarter, but otherwise was used sparingly during the afternoon.

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